Wednesday Films January 30, 2019 7:00 pm

A Letter to Congress

Chris Newman, Amani King, Dalia Burde | 2017 | 3 min

Wallace Stegner’s 1960 letter to Congress about the importance of wilderness is the frame-work for a new message, one in which our unified voice can help prevent the transfer of our most valuable heritage — our public lands — to private and corporate interests.

Biomimicry

Janine Benyus, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oliver Stanton, Leila Conners, Tree Media | 2015 | 22 min

Biomimicry, the practice of looking deeply into nature for solutions to engineering, design, and other challenges, has inspired a film about its groundbreaking vision for creating a long-term, sustainable world. This film covers how mimicking nature solves some of our most pressing problems, from reducing carbon emissions to saving water.

The Invisible Mammal – The Bat Rescuer

Kristin Tieche | 2016 | 10 min

The Invisible Mammal is a film series about the role of bats in our ecosystem, and how hu-mans must protect them. In this first installment of the series, we meet Corky Quirk—The Bat Rescuer, the founder of NorCal Bats, an organization that provides care for injured bats and educational programs for libraries, schools, nature programs, fairs, and other events. She works with injured and orphaned bats, returning them to the wild, and keeps a captive colony of non-releasable bats for use in education.

Little Grouse on the Prairie

Local Film by Friends of Attwater Prairie Chicken Wildlife Refuge | 2018 | 10 min

Friends of Attwater Prairie Chicken Wildlife Refuge is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. Their mission is simple: To assist, enhance and promote the Attwater Prairie Chicken Nation-al Wildlife Refuge’s goal of recovering the endangered Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken and restor-ing native Texas coastal prairie for the benefit of present and future generations..

Lost in Light

Sriram Murali | 2016 | 3 min

Lost in Light is a short film on how light pollution affects the view of the night skies. Shot mostly in California, this piece shows how the night sky view gets progressively better as you move away from the lights.

Wednesday Films January 30, 2019 7:00 pm

The Mirnavator Sarah Menzies | 2017 | 11 min

Teacher, blogger, and mom Mirna Valerio is an endurance runner whose weekends are packed with marathons, 50Ks, and other races. But she doesn’t fit into the typical mold of ul-tra-runner; Mirna is black, and she’s not stick thin. It can be a harsh world of cruel internet trolls and insensitive competitors, but where others might relent, Mirna keeps her head up. She chooses to focus instead on the freedom, joy and feeling of accomplishment.

The New Environmentalists: The Community They Fight For

John Antonelli, Will Parrinello, Tom Dusenbery | 2017 | 4 min

The New Environmentalists share a common goal, safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution. The program features portraits of six passionate and dedicat-ed activists around the globe who have placed themselves squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries for environmental justice in their communities. Narrated by Robert Redford, The New Environmentalists illustrates how ordinary people are effecting extraordi-nary change.

The Secrets Held in the Ice

Loïc Fontimpe | 2015 | 14 min

Follow the adventure of the pioneer glaciologist Claude Lorius who, in 1956, when he was still a young student, left to study Antarctica. This extreme life experience teaches him the princi-ples of survival and solidarity, and reveals to him his vocation: Claude will be a glaciologist. Convinced that the Antarctic ices contain important information for the understanding of our planet’s climatic history, he will continue his research without respite for three decades. Only then does the ice reveal an unexpected message.

Valve Turners

Steve Liptay | 2017 | 9 min

On October 11, 2016, in solidarity with Standing Rock and in response to the climate emer-gency we are facing, a team of activists took direct action, shutting off the 5 pipelines carrying tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, into the United States.

Wildlife and The Wall Ben Masters, Fin & Fur Films | 2017 | 5 min

Filmmaker Ben Masters (UNBRANDED) goes into the heart of the Big Bend, the last true wil-derness in the state of Texas, to consider what effects building a border wall might have on wildlife dispersal, migratory corridors, and access to the Rio Grande, the only water source in a harsh desert environment.

Thursday Films January 31, 2019 7:00 pm

Brothers of Climbing

Jason Zemlicka, Jamie Hubbard, Duncan Sullivan | 2017 | 7 min

How can you be what you can’t see? Mikhail Matin, co-founder of Brothers of Climbing, said, “I literally typed, ‘Are there black climbers?’ in Google … Someone said, ‘Black people don’t climb.’ ” A small group of climbers began to challenge that thought. The Brothers of Climbing is a crew that’s making the climbing community more welcoming. Watch to see how they created a community where one wasn’t.

Dragging 235 lbs Uphill Both Ways

Christina Franklin | 2017 | 8 min

The next generation is becoming increasingly plugged in to electronics and out of touch with the outdoors. This will have enormous effects on future conservationism. A mother of four kids decides to turn off the screens and make a change. Though challenging, her kids go from fearing and ignoring nature to understanding and loving it.

Gregory Lincoln Education Center

Local Film by Urban Harvest | 2017 | 6 min

Since 2003, Urban Harvest has provided Youth Education garden and nutrition classes to explore healthy nutrition, food systems, native habitats and ecosystems at Houston-area schools. Some programs are funded by after school grants while others are supported by parent groups, community groups and even local business partners.

Killing Games: Wildlife In The Crosshairs

Camilla H. Fox, Caroline Kraus, Sarah Gorsline, Ta ana Freitas | 2017 | 10 min

On any given weekend, some of America’s most iconic wildlife are massacred in wildlife kill-ing contests that ignore the critical role apex predators play in maintaining healthy ecosys-tems. Project Coyote’s groundbreaking exposé, Killing Games: Wildlife in The Crosshairs, uncloaks this hidden war on wildlife, inspiring viewers to help end these brutal contests where wild animals become living targets.

Naturally Selected

Jimmy Evans | 2017 | 9 min

Sam Van Leer’s organization rescues native habitat and fights for Miami’s most vulnerable residents. In this fun yet moving documentary, Sam’s unique charm and inspiring dedication is on full display with candid work footage and interviews as we learn what it’s like to run a volunteer-powered organization in the country’s most threatened but least civically en-gaged city.

Thursday Films January 31, 2019 7:00 pm

Nobody Dies in Longyearbyen

David Freid, MEL Films | 2017 | 9 min

“They say that when you’re hit by the polar bug, you never leave.” Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Nobody dies in Longyearbyen, or so goes the rumor. We went to the northernmost city in the world to find out why, and stumbled into the first act of a science fic on flick about something deadly, long buried in the permafrost.

Standing Tall Chris Gallaway, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Ruben Rosales, Valerie Rosales | 2016 | 12 min

How can you stop the destruction of an iconic Appalachian mountain, along with the history, culture, and memories it created? Ask Jay Leutze, who found the answer with the help of a 14-year-old girl named Ashley. Together they took a stand to preserve a threatened expanse of wild lands and to protect the Appalachian Trail.

The Nature of Maps

Bridget Besaw, Tahria Sheather, Seedlight Pictures | 2017 | 10 min

Marty Schnure and Ross Donihue are modern day pioneers: roaming some of the world’s last remaining wild lands to create maps to help conserve these precious places. Through their project with conservationist Kris Tompkins and Conservacion Patagonica to map the new Pat-agonia Park in Chile, The Nature of Maps explores the integral role maps play in conserva-tion, adventure, and our understanding of wild places.

Water Warriors

Michael Premo | 2017 | 22 min

In 2013, Texas-based SWN Resources arrived in New Brunswick, Canada, to explore for natu-ral gas. In response, a multicultural group of unlikely warriors – including members of the Mi’kmaq Elsipogtog First Nation, French-speaking Acadians, and white, English-speaking fam-ilies – set up a series of road blockades, preventing exploration. After months of resistance, their efforts not only halted drilling; they elected a new government and won an indefinite moratorium on fracking in the province. Water Warriors is the story of a community’s suc-cessful fight to protect their water from the oil and natural gas industry.

Where the Wild Things Play

Krystle Wright | 2017 | 4 min

Friday night at the local watering hole and … where the ladies at? Answer: BASE jumping from high desert cliffs, performing tricks on slacklines, climbing granite routes, shredding sin-gletrack, skiing backcountry lines, and generally leaving you fellas behind. This rowdy ode to female athletes by Krystle Wright leaves no doubt about the state of women in today’s out-door world: badass.